IPL 2020: As SRH beat RCB by 5 wickets, here's how David Warner-led side can qualify for playoffs

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lifted themselves from the seventh spot to No. 4 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 points table after the David Warner-led side defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by five wickets on Saturday.

While RCB remained in second place with 14 points, SRH forced into the top four, pushing Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Rajasthan Royals (RR), and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) a spot below.

After being put to bat first at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, RCB struggled in the first innings. They lost their in-form opening batsman Devdutt Padiakkal in the third over, before losing skipper Virat Kohli two overs later. Josh Philippe top-scored for RCB with 32 from 31, while the duo of AB de Villiers and Washington Sundar scored 24 and 21 respectively.

SRH, who were chasing 121, suffered a major blow when they lost Warner in the second over of their innings. Their struggles further increased when they lost the likes of Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha and Kane Williamson in quick succession. However, Jason Holder came in handy with the bat for SRH as his 10-ball 26 cameo ensured victory for the Hyderabad-based franchise as they sealed the game in 14.1 overs.

With one group match in hand, SRH have 12 points and Warner's side is the only team with a positive net run-rate among the teams from fourth to eighth place. SRH's final group game is against table-toppers Mumbai Indians (MI), who are the only side to have qualified for the playoffs so far and have 18 points from 13 matches.

RCB and DC are currently placed second and third in the table and are tied on 14 points. Interestingly, the two sides are set to face off on Monday in Abu Dhabi, and the winner will claim the second position in the playoffs. A win against MI will take SRH to 14 points. For the remaining two slots, SRH have an edge because no other side apart from Hyderabad and Mumbai has a positive net run-rate, but the Warner-led side have to win the match against MI on Tuesday.

Speaking at the post-match interview, SRH skipper Warner said," Coming into this game, we knew we had to beat the top two teams in order to progress. We got one more to go against Mumbai. Losing Vijay is a big miss. For us we have worked out, how to go about at the top of the order. With the bowling, all the credit goes to them. We are finding the right balance and the right partnerships. To go for less than 20 in 4 overs, it's ridiculous.

The wicket is slowing up a bit, the bowlers got to adapt to it. Tonight the bowlers have executed it well. Dubai has been the same, I think it gets dewy here. It wasn't a surprise at all. Holder's a great all-rounder. To bowl a bouncer against someone like him, you have to dig it very short. It's great to have that consistency. We knew we had to win today, and that's the case in the next game. In 2016 we had to win three games and we did that."